


Sound Of Music

by PinkFluffyBabboonButt



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-28 13:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15050564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkFluffyBabboonButt/pseuds/PinkFluffyBabboonButt
Summary: Contrary to the title, this isn't a Sound Of Music AU. But there are children, there is Draco, there is Harry, and there are other things too, but I'll tag them as I go.





	1. Father's Day

The light pitter patter of the feet were supposed to not wake up him up, alas the children always failed at it. Whenever they tried to be extra discreet they'd end up causing even more ruckus. He could hear the harsh whispers of the older children reprimanding the younger ones. It didn't really matter to be honest, Draco had already been awake for quite some time. After the first Father's Day he'd learnt to pretend to sleep while staying alert for potential dangers on every following Father's Day. An indoors broom quartet balancing a plate of pancakes had been enough of a lesson for him to not let the little buggers do as they pleased without some level of supervision.

He could hear the approving and disapproving squeals of the house elves, some excited at the prospect of a surprise breakfast, others grumpy that the children had taken over _their_ kitchen. Draco couldn't help the twitch of his lips. He'd have to bury his face into his pillow if he wants to believably pretend to be asleep. Though, he knew the older children would catch on the moment they'd step into his room.

Now the footsteps were growing closer and had a more determined sound to them. Draco quickly buried his face and pulled the blanket over his head, and took the most haphazard position to make it seem like he really had been sleeping.

3...

2...

1...

The door quietly clicked open.

A few more steps along with the screeching sound of the wheeled tea table...

...And Draco's act fell apart when he groaned loudly, as a bunch of tiny bodies climbed on top of him and smothered him under the loud yells of "Happy Father's Day!" while the older children stood beside his bed snickering at his misery and fondly smiling at their younger siblings.


	2. Pancakes and Brooms

The hustle and bustle of the café relaxed his nerves considerably. It felt good to be back home after ten years of traveling. After Hogwarts he'd initially gone to Romania to let the Savior craze die out before actually joining the aurors. After three years he had returned for a brief period of time. However, soon all of his assignments had him traipsing around the world again. The remaining death eaters had spread around the world and the Ministry of Magic couldn't seem to catch them without Harry Potter himself working in their ranks.

In the beginning he had been angry about their incompetence, but now after seven years and the last death eater securely locked up in Azkaban there was nothing Harry could complain about. Not to mention all the wonderful places he got to see thanks to them.

Ron had warned him that back home all the cases would be quite boring actually, no more barging into dangerous situation to save the day. There were occasional gangs and whatnot, but not enough to fill Harry's weekly quota of action. Not that Harry didn't know that already. After all, after the first two or three years of being an auror he'd caught so many death eaters that there simply weren't enough of them to fill all of Harry's schedule.

Enough to keep him from staying home for longer periods of time, but not enough to spare him from having to take care of some drunkard who had splinched himself while attempting to apparate.

The hot cup of coffee and the plate of delicious pancakes set in front of him broke him away from his thoughts. Harry thanked the waiter who nodded and left him with his breakfast. Ah, the bliss of muggle cafés. Harry wasn't sure how bad things were with the Wizarding world, but last time, seven months ago, when he'd been home it hadn't even been a full day since he'd portkeyed back from Nauru when he already had to hide from the paparazzi. This time he had been cautious and decided to spend at least a week in a muggle hotel before going anywhere near Wizarding areas. He had only sent an owl to Ron and Hermione to let them know he'd be home soon.

As he enjoyed his pancakes while observing the people coming and going he noticed a rather odd looking couple enter the café. The man was quite tall and smartly dressed, but Harry couldn't make out any of his features, as the man had leant down to whisper something into his date's ear. His date was a very gorgeous looking woman, not to mention her impeccable style with her wavy brown curls falling down on both sides of her face framing it nicely. It wasn't her style, or beauty that caught Harry's eye, however. It was the weird dynamic between her and the man who was accompanying her. She seemed small and timid while the man seemed all too confident and rather pushy. Having dealt with a few domestic abuse cases, Harry couldn't help but immediately focus even more on them.

Luckily, the couple sat only two tables away from him, so he could easily spy on them while pretending to eat his breakfast. Despite it being quite busy in the little café it wasn't all that impossible for him to hear what they were talking about. Something about them was nagging Harry a lot, specially about the man. Unfortunately, the man had his back at Harry so he still couldn't see his face.

As inconspicuously as possible, Harry tried to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Tori, are you sure you are comfortable?" The man took her hand and gently squeezed it.

The woman rolled her eyes. "No, I am not. But practice makes perfect. Besides I can't buy the presents for the children if I'm wearing my robes," she said fixing her loose striped shirt.

Robes. She was a witch. Harry relaxed again. No potential domestic abuse cases then. Just a witch trying muggle clothes for the first time. Harry returned his attention to the heavenly pancakes, but by then the café had emptied out a little so he could still hear them without even trying. Not that the couple was trying to be discreet particularly well.

"I could have come on my own, you know I have a good taste."

Before the woman could answer a waiter had come to take their order. Black coffee with blueberry muffin for him, and milk tea with pancakes for her. When the waiter was gone they returned to their conversation.

"I know you do. But only when it comes to the older children. You are horrible with the younger ones."

The man groaned, "It was just once. Besides it's not like Amaranth and Oliver can't use the brooms soon."

"Blaise," the woman huffed, "Oliver was a newborn and Amaranth was only one when you bought those, and that was last year. Not to mention, how jealous Basil and Timothy were when they realized you bought them storybooks instead of brooms."

"It's not my fault they like knights. If they didn't have something they liked, I would have bought brooms for them as well."

Hearing the man's name had made Harry's head snap up almost painfully. He didn't need to see the man's face anymore. He couldn't help staring at the woman to get a better look. It had to be Pansy Parkinson, right? The woman didn't look like Pansy though. Harry would have recognized the girl who had handed him over to Voldemort. This woman wasn't her. He tried to remember where he'd seen her before, but he couldn't think of anyone.

"...my fault he's become a crazy old orphan man."

"He is not a crazy old orphan man," the woman admonished Blaise, "They're his children. He's not running an orphanage, they're all his family. And ours too."

"Whatever." Blaise shook his head. "So what have you planned for the younger ones, Tori? I've already decided to buy brooms for Basil and Timothy to make up for last year."

"I should have known. I was thinking we'd visit that store we walked past last week..."

The woman, Tori, began to list a bunch of baby products she wanted to buy from muggle stores. Meanwhile, Harry had tuned out of their conversation and was trying to think of any Toris he'd come across in Hogwarts or after Hogwarts. He wondered if it'd be a good idea to ask. Before he could make up his mind the couple had already left, their cups empty and their breakfast only half eaten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where's Pansy :O? Don't ask, it'll break your hearts.


	3. Presents

Draco minced the half burnt pancake between his teeth with the help of cold tea. The younger children were staring at him expectantly, their eyes glued to his face, waiting for the approval for their efforts. Meanwhile, the older children were still standing by his bedside, wincing at every bite he took.

"It's wonderful," Draco said with a trained smile. It wasn't entirely fake, just enough to hide the fact that he was choking on all the love put into the burnt-to-crisp pancakes and the cold, salty tea.

The smile that broke out on all their faces was worth one more week of eating such horrible food for every meal.

"Papa! Papa! We have presents for you too!" Anemone announced on everyone's behalf.

"Oh, really? You didn't have to!" Draco threw his hand over his chest in pretended surprise, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open.

Sylvester and Crysanthus were trying to do their best not to laugh at his act. After all, they had been the messengers between him and the other children. They had collected whatever money each of the children could contribute from their allowance for the presents and promised them they'd go and secretly buy the presents for Papa. Then they'd brought the money back to Draco, who added more money from his own pocket and bought whatever he needed, passing them back to Sylvester and Crysanthus. Only they themselves, Pansy, Vincent, Amaranth and Oliver did not take part in the gift pool.

Sylvester and Crysanthus wanted to buy a present on their own accord. Pansy and Vincent had some elaborate card project. And Amaranth and Oliver were too young, so the children had together decided that all the credit for the breakfast would go to them. Although, shifting the blame in case Draco didn't like the breakfast could have had some impact on the decision.

Draco scooted a little more to the middle letting even the older children join him on the bed. Once everyone was settled it was time for opening the presents. The neat packaging with calligraphic writing on each present was clearly done by Magnolia. She had also been the one to arrange everything so the house elves would stay away from the kitchen.

"To our beloved Papa, with love Sylvester," Draco read on the first package.

He carefully opened the gift wrap only to discover a long jewellery box. He opened it carefully and found a set of three magnificent brooches laid side by side. He thanked his son profusely and gave him a tight hug, before putting the box aside.

Crysanthus had gotten him a writing set that included a diary, a self filling quill and a quill holder. Crysanthus too, got a tight hug from his Papa.

Adonis, Florian, Camellia and Primrose "had gotten" him a wonderful light blue robe, that Draco realized matched one of the brooches. He must've bought them after getting the robe from Draco.

Anemone, Basil, Timothy, Iris and Daisy had gotten him a nice pair of dragon hide shoes.

"Thank you so much!" Draco put the presents aside and opened his arms for all the little ones to rush into.

"Happy Father's Day, Papa!" They all said again in a chorus, before barreling into the hug.

"Oomph—" Draco was pushed all the way against the headboard by their force. "Now go get ready, Uncle Blaise and Aunt Tori will be here soon," he managed to huff.

With yells of excitement they let go of Draco and ran out of the room. The younger ones first, the older ones after them.

Blaise and Astoria were definitely spoiling the children, but blaming them for it would have been quite hypocritical of him. He barely could help himself from showering them in presents and mollycoddling them all the time. If his own experience of such childhood hadn't ended the way it had he most probably would have.

Draco shook his head grimly. Today was not a day he was going to ruin by thinking of his late parents. Besides, no matter what Astoria said, he didn't really have the right complain. He'd gotten everything and more than any other child could ever imagine.

Using the technique his mind healer had taught him, he cleared his head of all the dark thoughts. He should get ready too, because their guests would be there anytime, and if the children got to Blaise and Tori first without Draco being there, it'll be complete chaos.

He took a quick shower and dressed up in a white shirt and black pants, topping his outfit off with the new robes. He pinned the matching brooch over his chest on the right side, and slipped his feet into the brand new shoes before emerging from the room.

He entered the sitting room perfectly in time. Only Crysanthus, Amaranth and Oliver had arrived before him. Crysanthus was sitting on the carpet, helping Amaranth with a jigsaw puzzle, while Oliver was staring at the charmed figurines levitating over his crib. Draco assessed their outfits approvingly. Crysanthus did have a good taste, certainly way better than Sylvester did. While Wobbly, the children's favourite house elf, had dressed Amaranth and Oliver just the way Draco had instructed him to.

As one by one rest of the children poured into the room Draco checked their outfits too, only sending Adonis and Florian back, who thought their skeleton masks were a proper accessory when they had guests coming. Draco knew it was a bit posh of him. After all it was just Blaise and Astoria. However, they were Malfoys, albeit very different from his parents, still, being a Malfoy included a certain level of poshness.

Luckily, Wobbly offered to take the masks back, because Astoria and Blaise walked out of the floo just then.

"Aunt Tori!"

"Uncle Blaise!"

All the children rushed to them in a blink of an eye. Only one unable to join his siblings was Oliver, so he began to squeal for Draco's attention.

"Come on little man, let's get you there too." Draco picked him up and walked up to his friends. Astoria immediately handed the bags of presents to Blaise, who was already holding way too many bags, and snatched the baby from Draco's arms.

"Oliver!" She swung the little boy up, making him giggle.

Seeing his younger brother get all of Aunt Tori's attention made Amaranth jealous so he clung to Astoria's robes too.

Draco could see the cascade of jealousy activate, but before the rest of them could further act upon it, he was herding them away from Astoria and Blaise.

"All of you, back to your seats or no one is getting any presents!"

"Oh, Draco, let them have fun," Astoria swatted him lightly on the arm with her free hand.

"I seriously don't understand why you insist on spoiling them. It's Father's Day. I am the one supposed to get the presents, not them," Draco pouted making both Astoria and Blaise roll their eyes.

"Not a bad idea. We could always give these presents to you," Blaise said, loud enough for the children to hear him.

"No!" They cried in unison, making the adults burst out in laughter.

Blaise and Astoria squeezed between the children on the couch, while Draco took seat in his personal arm chair everyone knew to steer clear from. He summoned a house elf to get them all something light to eat with some tea for the adults.

"Let's see what we have here," Blaise said with a menacing voice hyping the already excited children even further. This time it was Draco and Astoria who rolled their eyes. The children however, were completely in trance, holding their breath in anticipation.

Blaise put his hand into one of the bags and took out a jingling dragon toy. Draco couldn't help smiling at the anticipatory smile on his fourteen-year-old sons' faces. He knew they knew the toy wasn't for them, yet still there was a glint of disappointment in their eyes when Blaise turned to Astoria so he could give the toy to Oliver. Amaranth got a similar dragon, except his was bigger and a purple one, unlike Oliver's black one.

Daisy and Iris got matching healer's sets. The moment Blaise asked the two of them to guess what he'd gotten for them Draco knew he was going to have to play healer patient with them. He wanted to groan. The girls had suddenly taken a weird interest in healers after Astoria had hired them a new, a very young, and a very friendly, family healer. This far they'd only used random household items in their games so Draco could reprimand them for playing with things that weren't toys. However, now with the sets there was no way Draco could get away. He swore under his breath. He was so going to ruin Blaise and Astoria's dates and make them play with the girls.

The brooms for Basil and Timothy gave him a heart attack too. He could already see the endless amounts of bumps, scratches and broken bones. By now he was horrified to even think of what they'd gotten for rest of the children.

Thank Merlin, Primrose and Anemone got a simple board game. Astoria hadn't even let go of it when the girls were already running to their room to play with it. It was the first time Draco had to raise his voice that day. A record from them, to be honest. Usually with sixteen children it took lesser time for one or more of them to earn a reprimand from him. Both of them came back thanked their uncle and aunt, then they stuck their tongues out at Draco and ran away again.

While his friends laughed, Draco huffed. At least Primrose wasn't being her gloomy self.

For Pansy and Vincent Astoria had bought a muggle toy. It was a pottery kit for beginners, complete with the pottery wheel. The way their faces lit up at yet another crafty present definitely had their namesakes roll in their graves. Draco tried to imagine his Pansy and Vincent getting excited by anything that included getting dirt under their nails. No way.

For rest of the children they had gotten books. At first there was a collective groan but the moment they took a look at the titles all of their faces lit up. Draco could always trust Astoria to know what the children want the most without having to ask him. 

He didn't even have to dismiss the children. After thanking and chatting a little with Blaise and Astoria they began to vanish one by one to their rooms with their presents. Only ones left were Oliver and Amaranth. Oliver was alternating between sucking at the tail of his dragon, and jiggling it. Amaranth, on the other hand, was babbling something to himself as he played with his dragon.

Draco took a sip of his cup and looked up at his friends, "You two are spoiling them too much."

"Yes, Draco. Thank you for the news. We've heard it hundreds of times already," Blaise rolled his eyes.

Astoria just smiled, "You can spoil ours in return when we get children too."

"As if that's ever happening. I'm never going to get a chance for revenge," Draco said, glaring at his best friend. He understood family was a big factor of insecure for Blaise, specially after what happened to their Pansy, but mourning for five years was too much.

He turned back to face Astoria's glare, because she believed he was pushing Blaise too much. According to her Blaise had the right to mourn Pansy for as long as he wanted even though he was already going out with Astoria. But to Draco's surprise Astoria didn't have the expression of mild disappointment on her face. It was rather unnerving and slightly doleful. She reminded him of Narcissa when she did that. Instead, she was looking at Blaise who was taking something out of his pocket.

He handed it to Draco. It was a healer's prescription for potions. They got all their potions from him to support his trade and also because of his way better and reliable potions. He read through the list a few times. The potions were odd. There was a potion usually used for morning sickness, another for pain, and some prenatal potions. After the third read it hit him like a brick.

"You are pregnant?" He looked up at Astoria in astonishment.

She beamed at him, "I thought you would have realized it sooner."

"Certainly, without having to read the list multiple times," Blaise added.

Draco immediately put the cup down and got up from his seat to smother his friends with an awkward hug too. "Merlin! Why didn't you two tell me?"

"Since you weren't getting it yourself, we thought your future niece or nephew could join the Father's Day tradition of giving a surprise from now," Blaise said, not minding the excess show of affection. Usually he wasn't into hugs and crying, but this moment called for it. Or perhaps it was semi coparenting sixteen children with his best friend that had mellowed him down.

"You should be the one it would be celebrating Father's Day with. Not me," Draco admonished him.

"He thinks it's too sappy," Astoria told him, "though it's not that big of a deal. All of them are all of ours anyway."

"Are you trying to take our right to have a cousin from us?" They suddenly heard coming from the doorway where Adonis and Florian had been lurking around with the masks on their face again.

"They can't do that! I can't tolerate another brother! Besides we need cousins so we can teach them to fly since you won't let us teach Basil and Timmy," The other boy said in horror. It was hard to tell who was who as their masks muffled their voices.

"You aren't teaching flying to anyone, now go get your siblings so we can announce it everyone. And tell Wobbly we are having a feast tonight." Draco shooed the boys away.

Behind him Blaise and Astoria were smirking at the boys' idea. If Draco blamed his children for being spoiled, Merlin knew how spoiled theirs was going to be with such a caring uncle and menacing, yet very loving cousins.


	4. A new case

"Hermione!" Harry buried his head into her hair. It felt so good to be back home after so long. He felt Ron join them in the hug too.

"Welcome back home!"

It had been a week since he'd arrived from his last death eater case. He'd missed the Father's Day meal at the burrow, unfortunately, but he'd brought a DVD for Arthur to try on the new DVD set he'd been tinkering with according to Ron.

"What took you so long mate? You arrived a week ago."

"I just wanted to unwind a little before being haunted by the paparazzi. Besides this last case was a bit kinky one, to be honest. I needed some rest or I would've been barking at anyone and everyone."

"Unwind and kinky as in that kind of case, or just?" Hermione asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Not that kind of case at all. Just over complicated and time consuming," Harry laughed. Hermione was never going to let go of that one case he and Ron had worked on together, where they'd managed to capture a runaway death eater in his brand new sex dungeon, while he was tied up, with things in places Harry wouldn't have wanted to see unless he was watching his own partner, or porn.

Ron groaned for being reminded of that ungodly sight again, "Seriously, 'Mione? Again?"

Hermione shrugged her shoulders innocently, "It's not me who's walking into these situations."

Unable to disagree both men just shook their heads on amusement.

"Anyway," Hermione dragged Harry towards the kitchen, "you must be hungry. I've prepared your favourites."

Behind her back Harry shot a look to Ron who nonchalantly glanced back at him.

"And before you say anything," she continued without turning back to face them as if reading Harry's mind, "Ron has suffered this whole week, so you bet today's food is tolerable."

Harry looked again at Ron for confirmation but he was still as unreadable as earlier. Trust him to pull a snobby pureblood expression trick on him on such a crucial moment.

After the meal Harry felt both glad and guilty. Guilty, because how could he think that Hermione would ever cook for him if she didn't know what she was doing. She was well aware of her skills and wouldn't subject anyone to food made by her. And he was glad because the food was way better than tolerable. Not to mention the treacle tart she'd made for him. He thanked both of them. Hermione for going through such a trouble when she was busy with her work and the children, and Ron for enduring bad food for a week when he too was busy with work and the children.

"It wasn't all that bad after the third day," Ron confessed earning an angry glare from his wife.

After finishing the treacle tart Ron and Harry helped Hermione by cleaning up, so she could feed the twins.

"Do you know yet what you'll be doing now that there are no more death eaters to hunt down?" She asked as she put a spoonful of multifruit purée into Hugo's mouth.

Harry shrugged his shoulder, "Not really. I guess the standard cases. Bad splinches, a burglar here and there. Maybe a nutcase murderer every now and then."

"You could try to change department or consider a career change even," Hermione suggested.

The idea was cool, but not tempting enough to Harry. Hermione herself had within the last ten years gotten several degrees, even going for double degrees before the twins were born. However, Harry wasn't the studious type like her. Besides he knew he'd go nuts if he couldn't work as an auror. It wasn't always the most enticing, risk free and rewarding job, but whenever he watched another criminal being put behind the bars Harry couldn't imagine himself working in any other field. He loved helping people and being able to go to sleep knowing that he'd made someone's life safer, albeit just a little bit.

"Nah, I'm good right where I am. I'd love to climb the ranks as an auror, but it can wait a little. The last ten years have been enticing enough to last me for a few years. I'd rather work regular shifts and catch up with everyone now that I'm back home for longer."

Hermione smiled understandingly.

"Honestly Harry, I still don't get why Robards didn't offer you to be the next head of the department."

They'd had this conversation so many times already. Harry felt bad that his friend didn't feel comfortable enough to celebrate his new promotion without feeling bad for Harry. Ron deserved it.

Hermione was thinking along the same lines with him, proven by her sigh of exasperation.

"Ron, mate, we've talked about this. You deserved it. You have far more experience than I do. All I've been doing this far is catch death eaters. You have done both that and worked on all the other types of cases. Besides you have better strategic skills than I do. Stop feeling bad for me and tell me when we are going to celebrate your promotion at the Burrow."

Defeated by Harry Ron gave up on the matter. "Well, we were supposed to tell everyone on the Father's Day dinner. Since you weren't joining us we decided to postpone it for a little longer. The promotion isn't happening any time soon anyway, so we still have a lot of time."

"You didn't have to do that for me!"

"Bollocks. Of course, we did. If Robards hadn't insisted you to take insane hours in insane places for insane cases, you would've been sitting in _our_ office when I came back from Robard's office, all stunned by the news."

"That's true Harry," Hermione seconded.

"Thanks guys," Harry felt warmth swell in him. Moments like these made him wonder how anyone could ever call him or Hermione better than Ron. His big and golden hearted best friend.

They chatted all through the day, and Harry left for home after dinner only because he needed to prepare for work on the following day.

\-----

Next morning wasn't as much of a chaos as Harry had feared. He'd woken up in a good mood, and in time. Most importantly when he finally entered the ministry the chaos upon seeing him after so long was almost nonexistent. The first few years of his auror career his colleagues had had a really hard time grasping that they were working alongside Harry Potter. It only got worse with all the reputation he gathered with the death eater cases Robards gave, not to mention having to stay abroad for long periods of time made him a bit of a rarity back home.

However, there still were a few glances or full blown stares of admiration, but Harry could live with that. Instead, he was burning to meet Ron's soon ex partner since he was going to get partnered with her. However, first he needed to meet with Robards.

Feeling excited, that he was for once being summoned to Robard's office to not be immediately sent away on some mission, he knocked the door. He knew he was going to get bored of all the paper work in a matter of weeks, maybe even days or hours. But right now he couldn't think of anything better.

There was a muffled come in, and Harry entered the room. Inside, Robards, and surprisingly, headmistress Minerva McGonagall, were waiting for him.

"Hello..." Harry trailed off at the sight of his former teacher and headmistress.

"Welcome to back, auror Potter," Robards welcomed him with a smile that promised anything but what Harry was looking forward to. He knew that smile.

"Mr. Potter," McGonagall nodded her head a little.

He closed the door behind him and took a seat next to McGonagall. She looked just the way he remembered from his days in Hogwarts. Elegant and almost regal in her black robes, keenly observing everything around her without really looking.

"Headmistress McGonagall," Harry acknowledged her greeting then continued excitedly, "How are you? And what brought you here?"

"That's why I summoned you here immediately. According to Headmistress McGonagall for the past several years they have been unable to get students to come to Hogwarts," Robards dived straight into the matter.

Harry turned to look at his former professor in a questioning manner, "They could have gone to other schools? It's not unheard of."

Before McGonagall could explain how this case was different Robards rushed to interrupt her. If Harry hadn't had years of experience with both of them he wouldn't have realized what Robards had done. No one interrupted Minerva McGonagall.

"We have checked with other schools, but they haven't even heard of these students, and the Hogwarts owls can't get hold of the parents either. Even Headmistress herself has tried to approach them, but has been unable to do so."

"So you know who the parents are?" Harry turned to McGonagall.

"I think so, Mr. Potter—"

"Which makes the case all the more easy. Now, I know you wanted to just do some small scale cases for starters. Is this small enough for you?" Robards tried to ask amicably, however, Harry could feel the annoyance behind the words. Robards was still upset that he had refused to be part of the serial killer case in America. It was not a death eater case, but it was away from home nonetheless. Harry was quite sure they only wanted him there for his name not for his skills.

Ignoring Robards' interruption he asked McGonagall to tell him everything.

"I am sure you know about the Quill of Acceptance, Mr. Potter."

Harry nodded.

"Whoever gets their name written with it is accepted to Hogwarts. This current situation began four years ago. We were supposed to get two boys as students. The acceptance letters were sent but no reply ever came. We sent more letters, tracked the parents down, I even followed the owls myself to see where the children were being kept, but the owls couldn't find the location. I feared something unfortunate had happened to them, so I came here."

Harry knew exactly what she was talking about. And he knew why she had come here, specifically to him.

"But it didn't end there. After those two boys we had more children who weren't getting the letters."

"How many children are there altogether?" Harry asked, his brows furrowed in worry. His mind was getting filled with images of children cowering in tiny cupboards in fear of their relatives.

"Including the girl from this school year there are six children. The oldest two should be fifteen by now."

"Do you have any suspicions regarding the case?"

"Yes, I suspect—"

Robards opened his mouth to say something, but Harry nodded his head to let McGonagall continue.

"I suspect it is Mr. Malfoy."

Where Robards' jaw closed Harry's dropped down. He should've known this was why Robards wanted so badly for Harry to accept the case. If Harry doesn't get saddled with the case without knowing it is connected to a death eater, or a former one, then he could easily refuse to take it.

Harry had warned Robards after being assigned to his last case that next time Robards got a death eater related case, he will have to ask Harry before assigning the case to him. Any other auror couldn't have kept the job after that, but he was Harry Potter. His darn name could be of actual use for once, since people loved to chant it all the time anyway.

"Do shut your mouth Mr. Potter," McGonagall looked at him with the same old expression of being quite done with everything her students got into. Specially when it was somehow related to a Potter and his gang, no matter if it was James Potter or Harry Potter.

Harry closed his mouth with a tiny snap, his cheeks red with embarrassment. "You suspect Malfoy has kidnapped those children?"

"I do not suspect anything yet, except that the children could be with him."

"What makes you think Malfoy has them?"

"After I realized that the owls couldn't locate them, I tried to use the help of a house elf. The house elf couldn't get past the Malfoy manor wards. I didn't want to suspect Mr. Malfoy, however, about a month ago, I found this article in a French newspaper," McGonagall slid a newspaper, that had been lying on the table, towards Harry.

Harry stared at it in confusion trying to make sense of the French words. He didn't know his former teacher could read French. 

"It's an advertisement for a home tutor," Robards gave in and explained. There was no point in trying to hide the possible nature of the case anymore.

"And this makes you suspect Malfoy because?"

"It says in the ad that a home tutor is needed for more than three children, and it is signed by Draco Malfoy," McGonagall tapped on an tiny advertisement on the right side of the page.

"Not to mention that all of their biological parents were former death eaters," Robard added looking a little guilty.

Harry couldn't make sense of the words but he did notice the familiar name typed at the end of the ad. 

They all sat in silence as Harry tried to piece all of the current "evidence" together. One one hand he really didn't want to take the case, specially when Malfoy was somehow involved in it. After the trials he hadn't really bothered with the git anymore. But on the other hand, McGonagall had personally come to him for the case. He glanced between her and the file Robards was resting his hands on. Before finally looking up to his former teacher.

"Tell me everything from the beginning and with as much detail as possible."


	5. Negatively surprised

Draco checked the time again knowing very well that it wasn't helping him calm down. His mentor, and the soon to be former boss wasn't the most punctual person, which unfortunately affected his life as well. He packed his bag as quickly as he could, slung it over his shoulder and rushed into the floo.

Stepping out of the Manor floo he broke into a sprint, the sound of his shoes thumping against the floor echoing through the empty hallways. He made his way to his study, where he knew Astoria was interviewing all the home tutor candidates.

He knew she wasn't thrilled about him hiring one all the way from France when she and Blaise could easily help with the teaching while Draco would be at work, but now with the baby coming he wanted to ensure they got to spend time on themselves rather than on him and the children. He had only let her be part of the interview so she'd stop sighing like a broken hearted maiden whenever she was in his presence. That woman wasn't any better than Pansy. No wonder she had Blaise wrapped around her little finger.

"Fuck!" He cursed under his breath as the bag swinging from his shoulder hit his leg hard when he came to a stop in front of the study.

The door in front of him opened slowly, "Mind your language, Draco," chastised Astoria from behind it. 

Draco straightened up and brushed his thigh, scowling annoyedly at her. "I know you've sent them all out with Blaise."

"So I have" she confessed and walked back towards the table at the other end of the room, without a word beckoning Draco to follow her.

"I'm sorry for being late. That old cow wouldn't stop yammering about his young wife."

Astoria smiled a little at the mention of the latest scandalous couple of the Wizarding world. Neither Draco's boss nor his wife were hotshots of the higher circles but both of them had garnered quite the attention with their extravagant wedding. Draco remembered the wedding too. To avoid getting attention himself by attending the wedding he'd lied to his boss and gone to their summer villa in France with all the children for one week. They still talked about that vacation, since the hiding from Papa's boss had turned it into an adventure they could never forget.

"Luckily today was the last time, wasn't it?" She picked up a file from his desk.

Draco ran his hand through his hair, "Yeah. No more late night assignments with him. I still can't believe how long he takes to make even the simplest potions."

"Surely you know how hard it can be to focus on work when one has a young, pretty, and not to mention, a very loving wife waiting for them back at home. Oh, I forgot! How silly of me. You don't know that, since you haven't bothered to find yourself a husband."

Draco groaned as Astoria smiled her sweet smile dripping with maliciousness. "I am the one supposed to make jab at your love life, not the other way around."

Astoria didn't dignify him with an answer. They have been bickering about it ever since Draco had confessed to her about being gay and consequently broken off their engagement.

"I have already chosen a home tutor for the children. Fortunately, he is well educated and won't have to lodge here at the Manor. Unfortunately, despite his huge repertoire of languages he isn't skilled in French," Astoria paused for a moment waiting for Draco to open the file to see for himself.

Draco didn't even look at the degrees, only leafing through them to get to the actual application form. The moment his eyes fell on the photo of the applicant Astoria continued.

"Just remember to get ready for some paparazzis, since they never seem to leave Harry alone."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about such a short and rather crappy update after such a long wait. Before summer I failed almost all of my exams, and had to retake all of them and what I had left from the previous year. There's been a lot of studying and I haven't had the chance to indulge in any of my hobbies. But I'm done with nearly all of them, I passed the year and have one more exam to resit. I'm not promising any regular updates yet because my school has started already so I'm juggling both a resit and normal studies, but this fic should move along a bit better after this Friday when I'm done with my last resit of the year.


	6. Facing the ghost of past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!!! I'm back from the dead, with yet another mini af chapter. I've been busy with school and had a small family gathering to plan for my boyfriend and his folks. I still can't promise any consistent writing schedules for which I'm sorry. I promise I'll try harder to continue this fic more consistently. But yeah. Here's a chapter as an early Christmas present for you guys ^_^

Knowing Astoria Draco knew that this wasn't just some joke. In fact, he hadn't even dignified her with a shocked response when he'd first seen the application form. He had no idea why to Astoria this was a good idea, but he knew she was taking advantage of her pregnancy as she knew he wouldn't make a big scene in order to not upset her.

Sighing Draco hung his head like a scared runt. He didn't want to face Potter ever in his life. He did not want to see that scar, those green eyes, or that mouth twisted in a scowl ever again. He was sure this was just Potter's plot to take him down. The ministry had tried to keep things under cover, but the whispers had reached his ears even though he had pretty much isolated himself until the new potion business. After the war Potter had gone on a death eater hunt and none of them had been safe no matter how many precautions they'd taken. Specially, that bloody Hodgkins. Getting caught the way he did in his bloody sex dungeon. The headlines had been funny until they began to speculate what had become of the snobby Malfoy heir. Draco really hated the day Crysanthus had laid his eyes on the crudely written titles and he had to explain what was being said about him.

Sighing again Malfoy continued to pace around his study. If Potter had come after him first thing after the war, he wouldn't have put up a fight. There was nothing to keep him around except his mother. But she was just an excuse for him so he didn't need to confess. What a wuss he was that he didn't dare to turn himself in despite knowing how much wrong he had done. He didn't have enough self loathing to do it even when she passed away only months later, however, he still wouldn't have put up a fight if the aurors had come knocking on his door. The situation was completely different now. He had his children, Blaise and Astoria, and a nephew or niece on the way. He couldn't just let Potter waltz into his life and drag him out of it and get thrown into Azkaban.

He felt like his young scared self again, left with so little self respect he was ready to wet his pants and fall on his knees to beg for his life. It was very un-Malfoy like but he'd do anything for his children. Even at the age of fifteen Crysanthus and Sylvester were far too young to have their father taken from them not to mention the rest of the children being even younger, and now with a child of their own there was no way Draco could trust Blaise and Astoria to take the responsibility of all of the children if something were to happen to him.

He was still pacing and coming up with worst case scenarios one after another when a house elf popped in and announced the arrival of Mr. Potter. Draco immediately froze at the mention of Potter's name. He wasn't ready. He could never be ready. Ever. Maybe he should just disapparate somewhere. Or make Potter wait in the sitting room while he'd quickly round the children and they'd vanish somewhere. They could go to the villa in France, or the safe house they had hidden in the lush Lapland forests of Finland. Anywhere but here. Before he could rack through his mind for a good escape, Astoria had pushed the doors open and was leading Potter into the study with her.

"He is just finishing up with his paperwork. He has recently started to work very long days, which is why he can't teach them anymore, even though he has a permit."

Draco didn't want to turn to face the ghost from his past but the pointed _Draco_ from Astoria forced him to do so. Holding his breath he slowly turned around meeting the familiar pair of green eyes again after ten years.

It was just like that day at Madam Malkin's. Meeting the green eyes of the mysterious boy who turned out to be Harry Potter. At the time he'd been excited about their paths crossing, this time he was dreading it. He wanted this to be over. Unfortunately, Astoria was glaring daggers at him in the very same way his mother used to when he was acting inappropriately. Draco immediately broke away from the daze and straightened his back despite his knees buckling and breath hitching.

"Hello, Mr. Potter," he finally said, mustering as much poise as he could in his current state of turmoil.

"Hi, Malfoy." Potter extended his hand for a shake.

Draco stared at the extended hand as if Potter had rubbed poison all over it that would spread into his system the moment he'd touch Potter's hand. After what felt like forever Draco finally took the hand. It was finally feeling the firm grip of Harry dry hand around his limp clammy hand that snapped him out of the fight-or-flight mode. Casting one glance at Astoria to assure her he was fine he took the reign from there.

"I'm sorry for having kept you waiting. As Astoria said, I had a few thing to finish off. Sit down please." He pointed at the chairs in front of the desk.

"It's alright."

"Would you like something to drink? Tea or coffee?" Draco asked and rang a bell summoning a house elf.

"Just a glass of water, please," Harry smiled, "I'm kind of nervous since this is my first real interview."

With a nod the house elf popped out of the room and Astoria too excused herself, saying something about bringing the children to the study so Mr. Potter could meet them.

Once she closed the door of the study behind her Draco turned to Potter, "So your first real interview?" He asked in as cocky a manner as he could dare, more out of curiosity than cockiness though.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I promised an update sooner, but my short attention span got sidetracked by cartoons. Also my already bad writing quality deteriorated a bit because of all the studying and writing 10+ essays a day for exams, so I needed a break from all writing for a while. I'm not going to promise anything this time. It's a roulette at this point. I might put up the next chapter in five minutes or five years. Whenever I do, I hope whoever ends up reading it enjoys it ^^ and I hope this chapter was worth your time and reads too ^^

Even though this was supposed to be only an act, a deliberate mention of a part of his life to make Malfoy feel safe, Harry still found himself to be very embarrassed at having to explain why he had never been to a real interview before.

Right after the war the ministry was so short of aurors they didn’t even have any entrance exams for the possible candidates. Instead they merely interviewed loads of candidates to show some semblance of protocol. Though they did have to weed the bad or just inadequate applicants later on when things began to heal in the wizarding world. But because he was Harry Potter, they didn’t bother to really interview him either.

However, to stay on Malfoy’s good side Harry skipped the part about his elevated status because of his name. He went on to explain how he realized afterwards that the job wasn’t meant for him but he hadn’t known until now what he wanted to do so he’d stuck with it. The story was easier than what Robards had suggested. After all, Harry knew from experience that the other boy had an uncanny ability to tell when he was around.

“No, a man,” Harry had to remind himself. Malfoy had changed a lot since he’d last seen the gangly and exhausted looking boy in the ministry after the hearing. He’d never crossed paths with Malfoy after that, not even heard rumors of him whatsoever. No one in his circles liked reminiscing about the snarky blond. It was one thing to talk about death eaters in general, and it was another thing to talk about one that had been among them all the time.

However, now years later Malfoy looked quite different. He’d filled into his bony structures and seemed attractively toned, as far as Harry could tell past the robes. His blond hair wasn’t gelled back. Instead, it hung over his shoulders in lush waves, the lighting of the room making the locks glint like a halo. The contrast made his grey eyes pop, punching Harry in the guts every time he made the mistake of looking the man into the eyes. And was it just him or had Malfoy grown even taller than before? Bloody giraffe.

“I see,” Malfoy muttered, snapping Harry out of his drooling

Drooling?

Harry couldn’t believe he was just drooling over Malfoy.

“So what made you choose this job specifically?”

“I’ve always wanted to work with children, and this was the first job that came across. I had all the qualifications, except the French skills.” Despite the major lack, Harry could tell Malfoy was impressed by his CV. After all, back in Hogwarts he hadn’t been the brightest students, despite being quite smart.

Though, Malfoy wasn’t the only one being surprised. When Harry stepped through the Manor gates he’d steeled himself up for a battle of words and wits. He’d expected Malfoy to be his snarky old self if not even worse, like his father. But apart from his outlook, from the very first second of the awkward interview reunion his behaviour was different too. Malfoy was being very calm and collected, as if he was truly meeting a stranger for an interview. Or so it was until Malfoy asked about his French skills.

“Since you can’t speak French, how did you manage to find my advertisement and understand rest of my requirements.” Malfoy had raised an eyebrow that same old way that would have made Harry jump up from his seat and start a fist fight back in Hogwarts. Now Harry wasn’t sure how to react to the sudden familiar gesture after almost fifteen minutes watching a stranger with Malfoy’s face read through his application. In the end Harry decided to consider it a blessing. Somehow a docile and distant Malfoy was more annoying than the snarky one.

“A friend who knew about my desire to change careers told me about it and helped me through the application.” Harry shrugged his shoulders.

“Mhmm,” Malfoy hummed to himself, as he read through the papers.

Right then there was a knock on the door and Astoria opened it. “I hope I’m not interrupting?” She asked, poking her head in to assess the situation.

“No, you’re not. We’re done with the interview.” Malfoy put the papers on his desk and got up to help Astoria herd the children in. As each child entered the study Malfoy introduced them to Harry.

“Meet Crysanthus and Sylvester, they’re fifteen...”

Harry realized that they must’ve been the first two children McGonagall had mentioned, although he would need more time to figure that out.

“...This here is Florian, and his brother Adonis. Camellia, she will give you a hard time...”

Camellia tilted her head back just enough to not be obvious yet to be able to stare into her father’s soul through her dark black fringe, and rolled her eyes at his comment.

“And this is Magnolia, she will give you a hard time too. Just, in a different way.”

Magnolia lifted her face up from the book she had been reading and stared at Harry with her beady eyes through her thick glasses.

Taking in the almost Victorian-ish goth look of Camellia and the classic bookworm look of Magnolia Harry could easily tell what Malfoy meant when he said they’d give him a hard time. Despite their attempts to look as calm and poised as their father, Harry could tell just how they were bursting at the seams to refuse doing exercises, in Camellia’s case, or ask a thousand questions per chapter, in Magnolia’s case.

Harry turned to look at Malfoy expectantly.

“If you have any questions you may ask them now Mr. Potter,” Malfoy answered.

Questions? Harry had way too many questions to ask but wasn’t sure where to start from, or if he should ask them in the first place. He was pretty sure there were more children than the six Malfoy had introduced to him. He also couldn’t understand how Malfoy had managed to gain a permit to homeschool the children for four years without headmistress knowing about it. But biggest question of them all was what the children were doing with him. Clearly, he hadn’t kidnapped them, he couldn’t feel any traces of magic on the children whatsoever, and given how comfortable the children looked around Malfoy he couldn’t imagine the blonde to have bought them. Of course human trafficking wasn’t as bad among the wizards as it was among muggles, but with rich people it never did to rule out any possibilities.

Unable to come up with any relevant questions Harry turned to the children, “Nice to meet all of you. I am your new home tutor. I hope we have a wonderful time studying and gaining knowledge in all the subjects you are required to study.”

The last pep talk had taken Harry ages to come up with, and he was pretty sure it was cringy, but when he looked back at Malfoy the man nodded approvingly.


	8. Chapter 8

Hi Guys!

Yes, I'm still alive. And yes, this fic is still happening. It's just, every time I think I have finally managed to get some sort of control over my writing schedule school decides to fuck with my plans. Which is why I thought I'd drop this note. I'm still working on this fic, however exam session has started and I*ll be rather busy till the end of summer so it's going to take long af time for me to finish this fic. As a kind of a filler, not just for you but me as well (to keep a consistent writing schedule), I'll be soon posting a fairytale fic. Kind of a continuation of a classic fairytale. Mind you it won't be HP themed. So if you're into that kinda fic stay tuned for that ^^ And I promise I'll try to get on with this fic.

Best of luck to all of those who have exams, and a wonderful vacation to those who are done with school ^_^!!

**Author's Note:**

> I was supposed to take a little more time before starting this fic, since last Drarry fic had turned out to be so long. But like, it's Drarry. It's impossible to stay away. Specially when it's a drarry fic with kids.
> 
> Just like with my last fic, I'll add tags as I go, because I'm, again, not working with a full outline. This story is just as much a surprise to me as it's to you.
> 
> Also, last time I'd tried, but utterly failed at nsfw content. So this time I'm not promising any of it. I have a hard time with nsfw content (I skim through that stuff even when reading pwp fics and only read the first two and last two lines. I know it's just sad). This is going to be far too long of a fic for merely fluff and no smut. Sorry about that.
> 
> Of course, things might change drastically, so you know what? Just buckle up for disappointment and enjoy the ride before the fic goes downhill.


End file.
